hatching marans egg questions

[marinakirsten]

hello!

I placed BCM eggs in my incubator about 22 days ago. All the videos and forums i read said to dry hatch so i did! humidity has consistently berdon between 35-45 the whole time.

I cant see vessels or embryos because of how dark the egg is, but i’ve been outlining the air cell and it continues to grow.

Every time i check the air cell it seems to have grown some, however the dark spot in the egg when i candle which i can only assume is where the yolk is hasn’t grown at all. Obviously I can’t see vessels or any details whatsoever but i can see the dark round shadow of the yolk when i candle and on day 22 it has not grown and taken the size of the whole egg.

are they not going to hatch? if the embryo doesn’t appear to be growing, why is the air cell growing?

thank you!!
Marina Kirsten

 

[Tstraub]

Hello, I’m still pretty new but I have successfully incubated a batch of marans. When I did mine I could see veins clearly between days 4 and about 10 or so then the eggs became full enough that I couldn’t see much but was still able to see some movement.

The air cells are growing because the eggs are losing water. Water evaporates through the shells. This happens even if there isn’t an embryo inside at all. The humidity inside the incubator affects how fast or slow the water inside the egg evaporates.

What were your temperatures during incubation? What type of incubator are you using? Are you measuring temperature with a separate thermometer or just the one that came with the incubator? Are you seeing any pips or hearing any chirping at all?

 

[goldenyears]

I mostly let broody hens take care of that and only incubate about 100 eggs a year. My experience has been with humidity levels in the upper 90s. Not sure what the benefit is for dry conditions, but my belief is that one should mimic what nature does. My guess, based on the info you provided, is they are unlikely to hatch. Hopefully I’m wrong.
Good luck,
Scott

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

The air cell is growing because it is losing moisture.
If it's 22 days and you are sure your temperature is spot on, then it doesn't sound good for any hatching.